The present disclosure relates generally to data processing, more specifically to Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) and Global Server Load Balancers (GSLB).
Websites, web and mobile applications, cloud computing, and various web and mobile services have been rising in popularity. Some examples of fast growing consumer services include smart phone applications, location based services, navigation services, e-book services, video applications, music applications, Internet television services, and so forth. Subsequently, more and more servers are deployed within data networks including the Internet to accommodate the increasing computing and data storage needs. These servers are typically arranged in data centers or web farms, which may include ADCs, GSLB and/or server load balancers (SLBs).
Conventionally, an ADC is a network device disposed in a datacenter and part of an application delivery network (ADN). The ADC may allow performing common tasks, normally done by web servers, in an effort to remove some load from the web servers. ADCs are typically placed between the firewall/router and the host (web) servers. In addition, conventional ADCs may include various features providing for compression, caching, connection multiplexing, application layer security, and content switching. These features may be combined with basic server load balancing, content manipulation, advanced routing strategies, and highly configurable server health monitoring.
Additionally, ADCs may manage load balancing and delivery of service sessions from client host computers to servers based at least in part on incoming service requests. As more servers are deployed, additional ADC's may be deployed. Similarly, as more servers are pooled together within the data center or spread across multiple data centers to provide scalability, ADCs may become bottlenecks slowing data transmissions between peers on the network.